Indispensable
by Sayuri-Jen
Summary: Looking at him, it feels like something important is constantly changing, but he hasn’t told her a thing. Other short drabbles - 3: A Simple Question
1. Chapter 1 Indispensable

Indispensable

She always feels like she's chasing after him.

Whenever Mai sees Naru's figure in her dreams, she can't help but think that he has some secret deep inside of him, for reasons she can't comprehend. Behind that kind smile, a sort of mystery looms. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why Mai loves him.

The young girl hates him for not giving her a clue. She's reached out for his hand numerous times and yet he's never grabbed it back. Looking at him, it feels like something important is constantly changing him, but he hasn't told her a thing.

She's not sure how she feels about the situation…maybe he's leaving her behind, there's a distance growing between them, or she's being left in the dark for good.

And Mai's not really sure how to react to that.

Sometimes she just wishes she could forget her feelings for him. Just, cut all ties with him and be done with it. He's stubborn, insensitive and a narcissist - it couldn't be too hard to do, right?

But then out of no where he gives her a rare smile of such purity that it pulls her right back to where she'd started, without her realizing it. Sometimes his tone looses its hard edge the slightest bit and the way he looks at her can't really be interpreted.

And for those reasons, Mai realizes that maybe, just maybe, things will work out fine after all.


	2. Chapter 2 Poochie

Poochie

Koujo Lin has been peed on.

"How dare you." He says.

Nothing. Lin glares murderously at the culprit, a brown ball of fur that stares up at him with large black eyes. It's a lost little animal that their young employee had brought in the other day. Pets were not allowed in her apartment and so it had begun taking shelter in their office.

His name is Poochie.

Poochie has peed on Koujo Lin's pants.

Lin stares down at the puppy some more, wondering if it'd be wrong to kick the little thing while no one else was in the office. They're now nose to nose, and the little guy isn't giving in.

Poochie looks up back at Lin with his tongue hanging out of its mouth, not only completely unafraid of the stoic Chinese man, but also quite unrepentant for having peed on him.

Lin gives the papers in his hands a sudden shake to try the element of surprise. Lin glares some more before Poochie yawns right in his face. He gives a little yip, like he's bored with the man's efforts and demands some sort of action.

After a while, Lin sighs and stands up, taking Poochie in his arms.

He decides that the little bastard will fit in with the SPR members just fine.


	3. Chapter 3 A Simple Question

A Simple Question

Naru watched with amusement as the papers fell from his assistant's hands and onto the floor. The last one, as he followed its swaying trail with his dark eyes, landed with a flutter on top of the five or so others.

He raised his eyes to hers again and the gaze broke the young girl from her sudden daze.

Mai blinked, tilting her head at an angle, wondering if she'd heard right. There was no one else in the office besides the two of them, so the question couldn't have been directed at Masako or Lin.

The young man slipped a hand into his long, dark coat and waited. To have thought that a simple question would have such an effect on the young girl (though he suspected that he _had_ been quite sudden) was very…interesting.

Was this a joke? Where were Ayako and Bou-san hiding? What was Naru gaining from asking her out to dinner all of a sudden? No he hadn't asked, more like demanded.

...was he asking her out on a date?

A deep cough emitted out of the other room that was Lin's office.

It took a minute to regain her senses. When she did, Mai couldn't help but bring her brows together at her boss.

"W-why?" she stuttered.

"Because it's dinner time and you've been complaining of hunger all afternoon. If you don't want to go, it's fine." He said indifferently.

Definitely not a date.

Mai turned red. Then she frowned, quickly kneeling down to pick up the dropped papers. She stacked them up, one by one.

Naru had expected (for some odd reason unknown to him) that the girl would have said, 'yes!', in quick agreement to the offer. Now it appeared as if his efforts were being wasted. It was different from the way Masako would have reacted. _She_ would have immediately clung to his arm and smiled sweetly at him, hurrying towards the door.

So it was odd that though Mai showed signs of jealousy once in a while, him asking her to dinner would only bring a blush to her cheeks.

What he didn't know was that her heart was beating a mile a minute.

With only a moment's hesitation, Naru kneeled down beside Mai and remained in the position until her amber eyes finally flickered up. An inch disappeared between them.

And just like that, she was rendered speechless again.

They were close enough now that she could smell him. A mixture of green tea and fresh air. Funny, he never really did step foot outside during the day.

Naru's expression was like the usual blank page of a notebook and yet Mai could see that he was still waiting for an answer. From her.

When she realized this, her heart soared.

"I…"

He only waited.

"I…Okay." Trying to recompose herself, Mai broke out a smile. "I actually _am_ really hungry."

After a moment he took the papers from her hands (information regarding a new case, which suddenly seemed insignificant at the moment) and set them on his desk. Naru decided that he wouldn't be returning for the rest of the evening.

Mai grabbed her coat and awkwardly followed her boss out of the office. The door clicked shut behind them.

A minute later, it reopened.

Lin smiled to himself as he entered the silent and deserted office. He was able to look out the window in time to see the two young teens walking down the street. There was space between them as they strolled down to a nearby restaurant, and yet there existed an apparent closeness that had never been reached with anyone else in their lives (perhaps besides with Gene).

With the tone a father would use for his children, Lin picked up the reports on Naru's desk and said with a light smile on his face:

"Who would have known…"


End file.
